


Spring Over Distant Mountains

by Stecayl



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25948513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stecayl/pseuds/Stecayl
Summary: Lissa kills a soldier for the first time and has to work through her feelings in the aftermath.
Relationships: Liz | Lissa & My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Spring Over Distant Mountains

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Whumptober, Isolation.
> 
> Title is from The Waste Land.

The archer aimed his longbow at Chrom.

Lissa saw it, but Chrom didn't — the archer was behind him, and Chrom was fighting a knight, raising Falchion to block a strike of a siler lance.

"Chrom!" Lissa yelled, but her voice was swallowed up in the chaos.

Robin turned her head and saw the archer for a moment, but she was fighting a myrmidon -- she had to quickly focus back on him, raising her sword to block his blow. By the time she finished dealing with the swordsman, it would be too late.

The archer pulled back his bow. Lissa saw it in slow motion, the way he pulled back the bowstring, bit by bit, the way he tilted the bow back, aiming for her brother —

There was a tome in Lissa's hands. She couldn't remember how it'd got there. Robin had showed her how to use it, just in case.

She shouted the words from the tome, and the thunder answered.

* * *

She managed to fool everyone while she and Maribelle finished healing everyone's injuries. When Chrom asked if she was all right, his eyes concerned, she gave him a bracing smile and told him to worry about himself.

Then, when everyone's wounds were patched up and everyone was healthy again, Lissa ran away.

She wasn’t supposed to. Chrom had already talked to her about that, how she was supposed to stay close to camp where it was safe. But it was too hard to be around everyone else.

There was a pond a short walk away from the camp. Just yesterday, she'd caught toads here and stuck them in Frederick's tent; that seemed like something from a lifetime ago. She didn't want to catch toads now.

Sitting beneath a tree, she wrapped her arms around herself.

And then the tears came, all the tears she'd been holding back for the entire afternoon, and she was shaking, and once she started crying and shaking, she couldn’t stop.

Someone sat down beside her. It was Robin, who had somehow managed to sneak up on her, even wearing her heavy robe. Lissa looked up, wiping her face.

“Hey,” Robin said gently. She sat down beside Lissa. “How are you doing?”

“I killed someone,” Lissa sniffled. The words felt wrong in her mouth. Someone was dead because of her. It felt like the words needed to be bigger; the earth needed to shake.

There was an emptiness in the world where there should have been someone and that emptiness was because of her. Because she'd pointed her hand and shouted a few words from a book.

The lightning had traveled from her fingers in barely an instant, and then the solder had...died. He’d looked surprised when the lightning passed through him, and then he’d dropped, just like that.

“You saved Chrom’s life,” Robin said, very gently. “You should be proud."

"I know," Lissa said. She wiped at her nose. "But maybe I killed someone else’s brother to save mine, or, or — ”

She gave a squeak of surprise as Robin gave her a hug. It was warm and comforting and Lissa sunk into the hug, pressing her face into Robin’s shoulder.

“Lissa,” Robin said. “You did the only thing you could. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I know…” Lissa said. She shook her head. “I don't know why I'm so upset. You all do this all the time, and… I mind less then. I know why we have to fight." And I want to help. But it makes a difference when it’s me doing..." She couldn't say it.

Lissa bit her lip. “Does it get easier?"

But she wasn't sure she wanted to know. There was no good answer.

Robin didn’t answer for a moment. She looked out across the hills; the sun had started to set, turning the sky to gold.

“You'll have to ask someone else,” Robin said. “It’s always been easy for me.”


End file.
